How to make spaces more accessible during the continuing pandemic

By Emily Dupree and Shelby Seier

The relentlessness of the pandemic, now in its fifth year, is drawn out by the persistence of its denial. The federal emergency ended, Covid-19 precautions have been lifted for years, and though many people are “back to normal,” over 20,000 people in the United States died of Covid-19 since the beginning of 2024. Millions who avoided death are nonetheless still living with Long Covid, and this number grows each month. We are still in crisis.

This is alarming, but it’s no reason to abandon hope or freeze in inaction. A blueprint for radical inclusion and living a full, safer life within the context of Covid-19 exists. Many mutual aid groups and initiatives advocating for clean air and continued Covid-19 safety are emerging all over the world using technology and layers of protection to help mitigate the spread of viruses. As an access worker at All Kinds and a founder of Clean Air Club, we are part of this multifaceted effort: we believe that focusing on layered mitigation strategies is one way to protect the health and safety of our communities and create accessible futures in the here and now.

All Kinds offers accessibility consulting that brings organizations and events closer in line with their own commitments to equity, especially amidst the pandemic. As one example, we helped an organization create an internal chart that provided safety protocols for employees based on wastewater levels, decreasing the labor each person needed to make safer decisions. Simple tools like these go a long way when mitigating the damage caused by the falsely manufactured “end” of the pandemic.

At Clean Air Club, we pioneered a clean air lending strategy consisting of a library of HEPA air purifiers, far-UVC lights, and other Covid-19-safety gear for the free use of our community members in arts and organizing spaces. In our inaugural year, we purified over 600 Chicago arts events, 21 United States tours, and four international tours; 30 new organizations around the world are now replicating our model; and over one million people have accessed our free educational resources online. There is a growing clean air movement and we see that its success is intertwined with radical inclusion, accessibility, and completely free access to lifesaving technology.

We possess the technology to make public spaces safer. Studies show HEPA air purification and far-UVC lamps drastically reduce the number of airborne pathogens in a room and therefore lessen the likelihood of Covid-19 transmission. When combined with other layers of protection, these tools have the potential to finally make our shared spaces more accessible during an airborne pandemic. 

We also know that Covid-19 accessibility is in the financial interest of public-facing venues. It is no secret that restaurants, nightlife, and other industries that rely on public gatherings have not fully returned to their pre-pandemic levels — people are simply staying home more. These same industries are seeing record levels of employee absenteeism due to illness. By making public venues safer, venues can access an untapped market of paying customers and reduce the financial costs of employee absenteeism. The Apricot Tree Café in Ontario, for example, has integrated CO2 monitors and HEPA filters into their restaurant, while the Chicago bar Best Intentions has reduced viral spread indoors by installing a comprehensive far-UVC system in their space. 

Most importantly, though, implementing accessibility measures during an active pandemic is the right thing to do, as it makes events safer for everyone. Black communities, people of color, the disability community at large, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and low-income communities continue to be especially hard-hit by the pandemic and the abandonment of Covid-19 precautions. The pandemic reproduces the very forms of ableism, classism, and racism that existed before 2020. There are millions of already systemically marginalized people who are being further pushed out of public life. This is unjust, and we must do better. 

Fortunately, there are people paving the way for this future. What follows is a blueprint for safer events. We encourage you to adopt these measures, refine them, and implement them in ways that work in the context of your community. Access is always a work-in-progress, and this is what is working for us, for now. 

Collective measures

An individualized approach to virus safety does not work; it takes all of us practicing safety measures together to achieve truly equitable spaces. You may remember the “swiss cheese” model introduced early in the pandemic: multiple layers of protection — each imperfect, but together quite effective — are the best chance we have at reducing the spread of airborne pathogens. That model still works today. Here are the layers we recommend.

1. Install HEPA filters in your space.
   Installing a plug-in air purifier in your space is a great place to begin. Because almost all public spaces currently fall short of the ventilation needed for Covid-19 safety, it’s safe to assume that your space would also benefit from this efficient first step. Make sure it’s appropriately sized for your space and continuously running. If funds allow, upgrade your HVAC system to include HEPA filtration.
    
2. Practice mask requirements.
   Consider requiring and providing high-quality masks for everyone who will be in your space and attending your events. Contrary to popular belief, mask requirements do not deter guests in any meaningful numbers. Clean Air Club has been hosting Covid-safer events in Chicago for over a year, and a majority of the mask-required events sell out every time. If obtaining masks for your event is cost-prohibitive, check in with your local mask bloc for assistance.
    
3. Collect and share data on the safety of your space and region.
   Collect data on the ventilation in your space using a carbon dioxide (CO2) monitor. The higher the number, the more attention you need to pay to improving the ventilation and air purification in the space. Open windows and doors, crank up the HVAC, and plug in another purifier. You’ll know you’ve succeeded when the CO2 levels in your space are close to the levels expected outdoors in fresh air (around 400 ppm). As a bonus, this improved ventilation and purification will remediate poor air quality due to climate-change induced wildfires, improve concentration, and aid in accommodating disabling conditions such as asthma and allergies.
   
   Data collection should also include monitoring wastewater data, now our most accurate picture of the true prevalence of Covid-19 and other wastewater-monitored viruses in our population at any given time. We can use this data to increase the number of mitigation strategies adopted when wastewater levels are high. Consider creating an internal chart at your organization that lists protocols associated with different wastewater levels, reducing the burden of communication and oversight during higher periods.
    
4. Consider additional mitigation layers.
   Some of the other layers of protection from the swiss cheese model include: pre-event testing, far-UVC lights, providing options for virtual participation, and asking guests to stay home if they’re showing any symptoms of contagious or novel illness. Consider promoting individualized mitigation approaches within your organizations, such as the usage of nasal spray and CPC mouthwash. The key is to remain creative, flexible, and open to adding layers of protection in response to changing risk levels in the environment.
    
5. Open up lines of communication.
   As you implement mitigation layers, communicate them to your community. Ask them how they’ve been impacted by Covid-19 and give people space to share their access needs and ideas. This will provide a crucial why behind your actions and investments. Using the accessibility principle of designing for the highest possible need, your virus safety plan should accommodate the most vulnerable and impacted community members rather than those who have high risk thresholds or behave as though the pandemic is over. Part of effective pandemic communication includes providing accessibility and virus safety information in an Access Note or in an Accessibility Guide. This information should be repeated often in marketing and outreach materials. 

We witnessed a rise of diversity, equity, and inclusion statements in the summer of 2020. In order for these statements to not be merely lip service, organizations must understand that equity is inextricable from virus safety measures. Connecting your active safety protocols to your inclusion measures, as well as to local impacted communities and other accessibility commitments, is the best way to generate community buy-in and turn statements into action.

Though you may feel alone practicing these measures, in reality there are thousands of people in every city who care about Covid-19 safety and are working towards liberation. Look up your city on the Covid-19 Action Map to get connected with local organizations that distribute free masks, purifiers, and public health resources on Covid-19 mitigation. Aligning yourself with this community will not only put you in touch with people who can provide resources, but also will provide solidarity in the midst of an isolating time in the pandemic.

We find respite in thinking about the many creative and courageous ways people navigated past pandemics, such as the innovation of masks during the 1918 flu pandemic and the liberatory activism of queer comrades when HIV was spreading and the CDC refused to acknowledge it as a public health crisis. Each time we insist on the urgency of Covid-19 safety today, we are inducted into a lineage of grassroots activism centered around the value of human life and the necessity of public health measures to protect it.

A final, and perhaps most difficult, step is to stick to these measures. Investing in yourself, and your community will pay off both long and short term. We all deserve abundant, thriving futures, and maintaining virus safety standards is one way of equitably building those futures. Our survival of the next pandemic and climate-related crises depends on the skillsets we are honing at this very moment. Fatigue is an expected part of community safety amidst abandonment; let it connect you with people in true solidarity, rely on your community for support, and periodically return to the why behind your commitment to liberatory virus safety measures. It is possible to practice radical accessibility, it opens up new forms of radical joy and solidarity, and it is a future we all deserve, together.

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Emily Dupree is the founder of Clean Air Club and a Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. 

Shelby Seier is an artist and creative accommodations provider at All Kinds Accessibility Consulting, as well as a co-founder of Clean Air Nebraska. To work with Shelby, visit www.AllKindsAccessibility.com, or reach out on Instagram @AllKindsAccessibility.

All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.

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